Pot having a lid

ABSTRACT

A pot having a lid for cooking and draining food includes a lid ( 2 ) having an outer convex top ( 20 ), with a central knob ( 21 ), which is dome-shaped and perforated by a plurality of through apertures ( 25,26 ) in one sector thereof, extending within one half of the top ( 20 ). The lid ( 2 ) further includes an edge ( 22 ) and a leaning swell ( 23 ) for leaning onto an upper brim ( 10 ) of the pot ( 1 ), which extends with a cylindrical band ( 24 ) for the reciprocal sliding coupling of the lid ( 2 ) with a mouth ( 11 ) of the pot ( 1 ), the cylindrical band ( 24 ) having an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the mouth ( 11 ) so as to accomplish a substantially airtight coupling when one is inserted into the other. The lid ( 2 ) is provided with releasable engagement means for the fast locking of the lid ( 2 ) on the pot ( 1 ) at the cylindrical band ( 24 ) of the lid ( 2 ) and in the mouth ( 11 ).

This application is a 371 of PCT/IT 99/00042, filed Feb. 05, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a pot having a lid for cooking food, inparticular for the boiling and for the subsequent draining of thecooking liquid thereof.

BACKGROUND

It is known that the preparation of cooked food like pasta, boiledvegetables and others, involving boiling for example in water, requiresa subsequent draining in order to separate the cooking liquid, which isstill hot, from the boiled food.

The draining is usually carried out by means of tools or kitchenwaresuch as colanders, sieves of various size or the like.

However, said process involves risks for the person carrying them andpeople nearby, considering the high temperature which often has thecooking liquid at the moment of draining.

Furthermore, food morsels may break as they are dropped from the potinto the draining utensil.

At the end, the draining utensil must be washed, and the washing thereofis difficult because of the leftovers stuck in the holes thereof.

Various solutions of the problems related with the known drainingutensils are known. One solution is the use of a sort of small cratethat has to remain inside the pot while the food is cooking, and thatenables the draining thereof by simply lifting off the crate from thepot. The use of the crate, when it is used as a actual colander havingsolid walls with a plurality of holes, requires that the cooking isperformed with a larger quantity of water, filling the gap between thepot and the crate.

Moreover, the presence of a further wall and of a gap of limited widthfilled with water forces the pot to absorb a remarkable quantity of heatin order to carry out the cooking, with subsequent higher powerconsumption due to longer cooking times.

On the other hand, when the crate is substantially made of a wire net,the latter requires a difficult and careful washing after use due to theleftovers which may stick to the meshes of said net, and in any case itrepresents a third element in addition to the pot the lid thereof.

Another known solution to the above-mentioned problems is represented byaccessories which can be attached to the pots, i.e. perforated screensto be attached to the inner brim of the pot, possibly provided withmanually operated fastening means.

This kind of utensil is used once the lid has been removed, and make upa perforated barrier against the passage of the solid foodstuffcontained in the pot, allowing flowing of the cooking liquid.

This kind of utensil is sufficiently effective per se, but it does notrepresent a solution because it represents an additional utensil to beused and then washed, just like a colander.

Furthermore, such perforated screens are usually made of plastics which,eventually, are subject to deterioration or to plastic deformation whichis detrimental to their use.

Moreover, said perforated screens are attached to the pot when it isfilled up with hot and steaming liquid, with the subsequent risk ofscalding. A similar risk is run during the draining, which must be slowand careful in order to avoid an uncontrolled spilling of the boilingcooking liquid or a sudden detachment of the screen.

A further known solution provides a substantially flat lid which can behooked and locked at the outer peripheral rims which are part of thebody of the pot.

The surface of said known lid slants toward a cylindrical perforatedportion of the peripheral edge thereof, which creates passage ways forthe cooking liquid.

Such lid, because of its flat shape, has an easily deformable structure,and it does not offer a sufficient resistance to the bending determinedby the weight of the cooking liquid which, during the draining, leansits weight against the inner surface of the lid.

Therefore, this kind of hooking becomes eventually ineffective.Moreover, the acute angle formed by the flat surface of the lid and thecylindrical portion of the pot creates a sort of groove wherein thesolid foodstuff accumulates, hindering the steady outflow of the cookingliquid. Eventually, said groove is difficult to clean.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,328,558 (Brooks) discloses a pot and a lid wherein thelatter is not tightly fitted into the mouth of the pan just at the edgeportion where the draining takes place.

GB 231,024 (Forse) discloses a cooking utensil wherein hot water mayescape from the mouth edge of a pan at the draining area thereof.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,997,509 (Betteridge et al.) shows another cookingutensil wherein a lid may be pulled of from the mouth of a pan bydraining, due to the weight of the hot water.

GB 304,971 (Walker Jones) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,045 (Delaquis et al.)disclose pans wherein small apertures are provided on limited surface atthe edge of the lid only.

SUMMARY

The technical problem which underlies the present invention is toprovide a pot lid that overcomes the drawbacks mentioned with referenceto the prior art.

Said problem is solved by a pot having a lid as above specified,comprising a lid having:

an outer convex top, with a central knob, which is dome-shaped andperforated by a plurality of through apertures in one sector thereof,extending within one half of said top;

an edge and a leaning swell for leaning onto an upper brim of the pot,which extends with a cylindrical band for the reciprocal slidingcoupling of the lid with a mouth of the pot, said cylindrical bandhaving an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the mouth soas to accomplish a substantially airtight coupling when one is insertedinto the other;

and provided with releasable engagement means for the fast locking ofsaid lid on said pot at said cylindrical band of the lid and in saidmouth.

The pot having a lid according to the present invention complies withthe object to allow an optimum boiling and draining of the food withoutthe need of adding additional tools or utensils into the pot-and-lid asa whole.

Another aim attained by the present invention is that of allowing aneasy boiling and draining, free from the usual risks connected with suchoperations.

A further advantage of said pot having a lid is that of making up a set,corresponding in its structure to the known pots with lids as a whole,without the addition of auxiliary means or elements and without the needfor parts made of synthetic material or in any case from materialdifferent from the basic material of the pot having a lid, which maytherefore be manufactured inexpensively and last for a long time.

Another of the advantages obtained by the present invention consistsessentially in that also the boiling operation is improved by the aboveillustrated pot having a lid.

In fact, the presence of small apertures over a section of the lidallows, during the cooking of food, a controlled steam release. Thismakes it possible to continue the cooking, after the boiling starts,without having to remove the lid or to move the lid sideways in anunstable position or lay it on makeshift supporting means, such as aladle leaning sidelong the pot, for fear of a dangerous overflow of theboiling liquid which could furthermore imply the extinction of theburner, when the latter is of the free flame kind.

Furthermore, an accidental fall of the pot according to the invention,if closed with its lid in the locked position, will be susceptible ofcausing much less damage compared to a common pot, as the spill of theboiling liquid from the holes in the lid is definitely limited both inits quantity and in its sprinkling range.

Further characteristics of the present invention will hereinafter resultfrom the description of some preferred embodiments thereof, shown as anon-limiting examples with reference to the figures of the annexeddrawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a partial side view, partially in cross section, of a pothaving a lid according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a plan top view of the pot having a lid of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a partial side view, partially in cross section, of a pothaving a lid according to an equivalent embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 4 shows a schematic side view of the pot having a lid of thepreceding figures, in a step of draining.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the figures, the pot is indicated 1, and 2 therespective lid thereof, apt to be placed on the mouth 11 of the latterto close the pot.

The lid 2 is provided with an outer convex top 20 with a central knob 21and an edge 22. The edge 22 of the lid 2 has a peripheral swell 23 andextends with a cylindrical band 24 which projects toward the pot.

The swell 23 operates as a leaning on an upper brim 10 of the pot 1. Thecylindrical band 24 helps the coupling, with a free reciprocal sliding,between the mouth 11 of the pot 1 and the lid 2, as the outer diameterof the band 24 is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the mouth11.

The band 24 and the mouth 11 accomplish a substantially airtightcoupling when one is inserted into the other.

According to the present embodiment, the lid top 20 of the lid isdome-shaped, i.e., it is provided with an evident outer convexity.Moreover, the top 20 is perforated by a plurality of small throughapertures placed over a surface identified by a sector of the top itselfwhich extends altogether within one half of said top.

Such through apertures can be shaped as holes 25, as shown in FIGS. 1and 2, or as elongated slots indicated 26 (FIG. 3).

The diameter of the holes 25 and the size of the slots 26 areconveniently chosen, and smaller with respect to the size of the foodswhich are cooked by boiling and which must subsequently be drained.

The extension of the sector of the top 20 having the through aperturescan be chosen of the desired sizes but obviously it is convenient thatdoes not exceed the center line, i.e., exceeding the knob 21, to avoidscalds due to an irregular outflow of the boiling liquid (FIG. 4) fromthe pot.

Still according to the present embodiment, at the cylindrical band 24 ofthe lid and of the mouth 11 of the pot 1, releasable engagement meansare provided for the fast locking of the lid 2 on the pot 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a first embodiment such engagement means aresubstantially of the bayonet type. In case of need, the pot 1 has, atits mouth 11, at least two inner diametral projections 12, 13 and, onthe band 24 of the lid 2, at least one pair of opposed grooved recesses27, 28 for example L-shaped, intended to receive and hold the tworespective diametral projections 12, 13.

The two inner projections 12, 13 can for example be obtained by punchingthe pot 1. As an alternative, the two projections 12, 13 can be obtainedby means of a pair of opposed pins (not shown) inserted in the sameposition of the rim of the mouth 11.

The pot 1 and the lid 2 can, according to a different embodiment,involve releasable engagement means of the screw type (FIG. 3). To thispurpose the pot 1 has, at its mouth 11, at least one or preferably twoopposed sections of inner thread 14,15 while the lid 2 has on itscylindrical band 24 respective sections of internal thread 29, 30,intended to engage with the corresponding sections of inner thread 14,15 of the mouth 11.

In order to allow the locking between the pot 1 and the lid 2 it isnecessary, contrary to what happens with the common lids, after anorientated insertion, to operate a limited rotation of the lid 2 withrespect to the pot 1.

Therefore it is convenient, as shown in FIG. 1, that the central knob 21is advantageously secured in a fixed manner to the top 20 at at least 2points, which can be represented, by way of example, by a dowel 31inserted into a corresponding hole of the top 20, and a fastening screw32, passing through the top 20 of the lid and screwed to the handle 21.

The pot having a lid according to the present invention can be used forboiling or cooking with the lid 2 leaning on the pot 1 or, better,locked thereto by means of the above-described engagement means, inorder to obtain the above mentioned advantages, of heat saving, lesstime wasted and greater safety deriving from the fact that the contentsof the pot will not spill in case of fall.

During the draining (FIG. 4), the water or other cooking liquid,indicated 4, flows out, with the lid 2 locked to the pot 1, through thethrough apertures 25 or 26 of the same lid.

The solid food morsels, indicated 5, for example macaroni, are held bythe lid 2 without blocking the through apertures 25, 26, since they aredistributed onto the inner concavity of the lid 2 and can be easily letto slide along the curve of the latter by gentle undulating motions.

The invention conceived as set forth above is subject to variousmodifications and variations, all of them falling within the scope ofthe same invention. Furthermore, all the details can be replaced bytechnically equivalent elements.

Modifications and/or improvements are of course possible in practice,all of them however falling within the scope of the claims annexedhereinafter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A pot having a lid for cooking and draining food,comprising a lid (2) having: an outer convex top (20), with a centralknob (21), which is dome-shaped and perforated by a plurality of throughapertures (25,26) in one sector thereof, extending within one half ofthe top (20); and an edge (22) and a swell (23) for leaning onto anupper brim (10) of the pot (1), which extends with a cylindrical band(24) for the reciprocal sliding coupling of the lid (2) with a mouth(11) of the pot (1), the cylindrical band (24) having an outer diametersmaller than the inner diameter of the mouth (11), wherein thecylindrical band (24) and the mouth (11) accomplish a substantiallyairtight coupling when the cylindrical band (24) is inserted into themouth (11); wherein the pot (1) and the lid (2) are provided withreleasable engagement means for locking of the lid (2) on the pot (1) atthe cylindrical band (24) of the lid (2) and in the mouth (11).
 2. Thepot having a lid according to claim 1, wherein the releasable engagementmeans are of the bayonet type, the pot (1) having at least two innerprojections (12,13) on the mouth (11) and the lid (2) having at leastone corresponding pair of opposed grooved recesses (27,28), formed inthe cylindrical band (24), intended for engaging and holding,respectively, the at least two inner projections (12,13).
 3. The pothaving a lid according to claim 2, wherein the inner projections (12,13)are formed by punching.
 4. The pot having a lid according to claim 2,wherein the inner projections (12,13) consist of a pair of opposed pinsinserted in the mouth (11).
 5. The pot having a lid according to claim1, wherein the releasable engagement means are of a screw type.
 6. Thepot having a lid according to claim 1, wherein the through apertures(25,26) are holes (25).
 7. The pot having a lid according to claim 1,wherein the through apertures (25,26) are elongated slots (26).
 8. Thepot having a lid according to claim 1, wherein the central knob (21) issecured to the lid.